Text|Star Sweep History said
Editor|Star RangeHistory said
The close exchanges between the Aegean civilization and ancient Egypt can be called the source of cultural exchanges between the East and the West. The appropriate geographical environment and the demand for each other's resources are the objective and subjective conditions for the interaction between the two.
The two are mainly commercial and trade exchanges, supplemented by diplomatic and military exchanges. The interaction between the two civilizations has three obvious characteristics: the way in which the two interacted in different historical periods was different.
In the interaction, the most affected was the Aegean civilization; In the interaction, the Egyptian civilization dominated, but the interaction took place in a peaceful environment.
The prerequisite for civilized interaction
The close relationship between the Aegean civilization and the ancient Egyptian civilization has become the consensus of historians and archaeologists at home and abroad. As early as the 40s of the 20th century, Mr. Zhou Gucheng pointed out: "The culture of the Clete people is very closely related to the outside world, especially with ancient Egypt, Asia Minor, and the Euphrates and Tigris river basins. ”
He relied on Smith's conclusion that "as early as around 3000 BC, Egyptian sailors ventured as far as Syria and Crete to obtain timber." In recent years, scholars have made this clearer.
"Crete, like the big islands of the Aegean Sea such as Cyprus, has always been influenced by neighboring continents such as Anatolia, Mesopotamia and Egypt," Velette said. ”
There is a mural in the tomb of Lehmi, the prime minister of the 18th Dynasty of Egypt, showing the contribution of the Creek envoy, with the inscription: 'The islands of the sea and the Maharaja of Keftiu arrived peacefully. "The Koftiu here is Crete.
In addition, "Egyptian papyrus and lotus motifs were found in Mycenaean tombs. And "Mycenaean pottery was even exported to Egypt." ”
This shows that Egypt had contacts with both Crete and Mycenae. From some of the written names found in Mycenae: Egypt did have dealings with Mycenae, and the Aiguptios found there must have referred to "Egyptians".
The trend of world history is to move from dispersion to whole, from isolation to integration. This is a universal law, but any civilizational interaction is facilitated by some specific subjective and objective factors, especially in the early days of civilization.
The interaction between the Aegean civilization and ancient Egypt was no exception.
First, the objective geographical environment makes it possible to interact with the two.
Crete, Mycenae and Egypt are all regions on or around the Mediterranean: Mycenae is located at the southern tip of mainland Greece, immediately adjacent to the Mediterranean; The Egyptian Delta region has a long Mediterranean coastline, while Crete is a large island in the southern Mediterranean near Egypt and Asia Minor.
Heavily influenced by the Mediterranean climate, the inhabitants of the three places have developed similar living habits, all accustomed to maritime navigation and maritime trade. This is an important prerequisite for maritime exchanges.
In addition, "the Mediterranean climate of warm winters and cool summers adapted the people of Crete, mainland Greece and the Phoenician lowlands to these conditions, so that when forced to find new lands, they naturally sought out those regions with a Mediterranean climate." ”
That is to say, this climatic condition made the Cretan and Mycenaeans willing to go to Egypt to earn a living. In particular, "the Cretan people were close to the outside world, close enough to be influenced by various influences from Mesopotamia and Egypt." ”
Finally, the Aegean Sea plays a strategically important role in trade and commerce in the Mediterranean, although the position occupied by the major islands of the Aegean Sea in Mediterranean trade will "rise" with the times.
For example, when Egypt was at its richest, Cyprus, Crete and Southern Agores dominated, but until the age of the steam engine, the Aegean Sea was the center of goods between Europe, Asia and Egypt.
This unique geographical location is a prerequisite for exchanges between the two civilizations.
Second, subjectively speaking, exchanges between the two civilizations are inevitable. Egypt focuses on the development of agriculture, but lacks many raw materials at home and is forced to go overseas to find the necessary raw materials.
The Egyptians first traveled to Anatolia and the coastal cities of Syria and Palestine, and entered the Greek mountains with the help of natural harbors to obtain raw materials such as tin, wood and stone. In this way, the culture of Asia and Africa was introduced to the eastern Aegean region.
If the actions of these Egyptians were predatory and wishful thinking of the Egyptians, then barter trade was desired by both sides.
Egypt received a large amount of gold from Nubia, and although it obtained some copper from the Sinai, it was still not enough. Crete and mainland Greece, on the other hand, were rich in silver and copper, as well as triangular short swords made by the Cretans, which the Egyptians needed. The Cretans and Greeks needed Egyptian gold and other items.
As a result, both sides have a desire to trade, which makes it inevitable that they will engage in trade-led exchanges.
The field of civilized interaction
In ancient times, there were trade, military and diplomatic exchanges between regions and countries around the world. What we see from historical sources is first and foremost the trade between the two.
"There is abundant evidence that Crete had commercial dealings with Egypt. Crete mainly exports raw materials and foodstuffs, clothing and a variety of high-quality Cretan painted pottery, and Crete imports alabaster, ostrich eggs and ostrich flies from Egypt. ”
In addition, "Crete's silver may have been imported from Syria and Egypt. At the same time, Egyptian papyrus and lotus motifs were found in Mycenae, and Mycenaean pottery was also exported to Egypt.
A pottery storage was found in the Amarna region of Egypt, all of which were Mycenaean pottery. It is important to note here that "foreign trade has proven to be monopolized by the royal family, as foreigners always come to Egypt with their 'tribute'.
In fact, official trade, while government officials act as brokers. Clear evidence of private trade is lacking. Because trade was conducted officially, and we found limited evidence, trade between the two civilizations was not frequent.
The size of the caravan is unknown, but judging by the mutual spread of handicraft and painting techniques, there must have been craftsmen in the caravan, who may also be court personnel, slaves, or more likely free people organized in official caravanserais.
In addition to contacts in the field of commerce or trade, there seems to be diplomatic exchanges. "Pharaoh of ancient Egypt, to 'green.'
The island nations of the sea' are no strangers. They had long been in contact with the monarchs there and exchanged gifts.
The discovery of the deceased wearing gold masks in Mycenaean tombs is evidence of Egyptian images. In addition, four 15th-century tombs were found in Thebes, Egypt, where paintings in the tomb of Senmut depict the tomb owner receiving tributes from the Aegean Sea who were more likely envoys.
Military relations mainly occurred at the end of the Egyptian Empire, when the "sea people" invaded Egypt. Before that, we had not seen any signs of war. The "sea people" are mainly people from the coast and islands of Asia Minor and the Aegean Sea.
It can be seen that Egypt and the Aegean civilization mainly carried out official commercial and trade exchanges, supplemented by foreign exchanges, there was almost no war, but there may be military exchanges.
Characteristics of civilized interaction
First of all, the two interacted in different ways in different historical periods. From 3000 BC to 1650 BC, Egypt interacted mainly with the Cretan civilization.
This way of communication is direct, because the distance between the two is very close, and with the navigation technology of the time, it only takes about two days to reach the other party's territory. Of course, there are also indirect exchanges.
The so-called "indirect exchange" refers to the trade between Egyptians and Syria and Palestine, and the Cretans also trade with the latter, in this process, Egyptian culture will definitely contact with Cretan culture, so that Syria and Palestine, as an intermediary between Egypt and Crete, have indirectly interacted with the two civilizations.
Because, the evidence found from Crete suggests that the Cretan civilization was greatly influenced by the Asian civilization of Asia, and there was also Egyptian influence in it.
In fact, we believe that the relationship between Egypt and Mycenae during this period should be mainly indirect interaction, supplemented by direct interaction. For some wooden boxes, fragments and ostrich eggs, as well as some crude handicrafts, were found in the tomb, which may have come from Egypt and have no elements of Cretan art.
In fact, this interaction between civilized regions has been accompanied by the entire process of Eastern and Western civilizations. Second, the result of the interaction between the two civilizations must be that both are influenced by the other.
But in Egypt's dealings with Crete and Mycenae, the latter was the most affected. As some scholars have put it, "The foundations of their philosophy and science were prepared by the Egyptians." "Egypt's influence on Crete is the most prominent.
There seem to be certain elements of Egypt in Minoan architecture, such as Knossos houses generally having a small room as a bathing room, which is similar to Egypt.
In the art of painting, as in Egyptian contemporaries, the frescoes of the palace of Knossos show men, women and animals facing sideways and on the same plane, but without the use of "perspective" as in Egypt.
Men are usually depicted brown, while women are depicted white; Depict the monkey as blue. "Industrial production, such as pottery and stone tools, was very developed due to the influence of the Egyptians.
Archaeologists have found that the oldest clay vase made by the Clete people is compared with the oldest clay vase made by the Egyptians, and they think that there are many similarities, and believe that it is a work imitating the late pyramid era of Egypt. ”
The "fast pottery wheel", which had been used in Egypt since the late pyramid era, probably reached Crete during the Middle Minoan Ia period, and was widely used during the Middle Minoan Ib.
There also seems to be an Egyptian influence in terms of religion. The Minoan dynasty used "Minon" as the title of the dynasty, which may have been a reference to the use of the title of the Egyptian pharaoh. It can be seen that Egypt's influence on Aegean civilization is manifold.
It is also undeniable that the influence of the Aegean civilization on Egypt is also undeniable, such as "the architecture of the East and Egypt also shows a large number of Minoan components, especially in the field of interior decoration" and so on.
However, due to the separation of the sea, Crete and Mycenae stubbornly maintained their independence while absorbing Egyptian culture, thus forming a unique source of Western civilization and laying the foundation for the Greek civilization that pursued freedom, equality and independence.
epilogue
Through the analysis of this article, it is not difficult to find that Western civilization was deeply influenced by Eastern civilizations such as Egypt before the 11th century BC. If the century from the mid-8th century BC to the mid-7th century BC is regarded as the "era of Orientalization", then the period from 3000 BC to 1100 BC should be the source of the Easternization of Western culture through the indiscriminate exchange of Eastern and Western cultures.
bibliography
1. Zhou Gucheng. General History of the World (I) [M]. Shijiazhuang:Hebei Education Press,2000.111.109.
2.G．D．Smith．TheAncientEgyptiansandtheOriginofCivilization〔M〕．LondonandNewYork 1923．170.
3.R．F．Willetts．TheCivilizationofAncientCrete〔M〕．London1997．15．70．88．74．82．108.
4. Zhang Youxiang. History of Western Culture [M]. Guangzhou:Sun Yat-sen University Press, 1997.4-5.10.
5. Yang Gongle Yang Junmin. Brilliant Greco-Roman civilization [M]. Beijing:China Youth Publishing House,1999.16.
6.JohnChadwid．TheMycenaeanWorld〔M〕．Cambridge1980．66.